Myeondong Tonkatsu: Nostalgia Took Me There But Japanese Chain Saboten in Korea Still Rules for These Deep Fried Cutlets

I admit it was mostly for nostalgic reasons I headed over to Myeongdong Tonkastu, the LA outpost of the Korean chain that I remember going to -- the one smack in the middle of the bustling Myeongdong area of Seoul, which used to be a fashion destination but has mostly turned to a tourist trap these days. Anyway, in the end, I thought it was better than the much touted Wako but not nearly as good as the layered Saboten tonkatsu I had in Seoul a few years ago. That was ethereal. This was meh. The service was below average.

The keys to good tonkatsu for me are the crispiness of the batter, the juiciness of the meat and the tonkatsu sauce. The batter was crispy but reeked a bit of old frying oil, like it had been reusing it for far too long. Not good. The meat wasn't moist like the wonderful layered katsu I had in Seoul. The tonkatsu sauce, however, was on par. It was the super dense soy sauce-based sauce that I mixed with some spicy mustard. The sauce was perfect.

The cabbage salad that it came with was fresh enough but the Thousand Island dressing was a tad on the dense side. I did like the dressing at Kimukatsu in LA. I liked the Korean radish kimchi cubes, kkadugi, that it served along with some jalapeno and cucumber slices pickled Korean style with some soy sauce in addition to the usual vinegar. That definitely helped to balance out the heaviness from the fried tenderloin. Not sure I would return but I did have the leftovers with some Japanese-style curry, which is my second favorite tonkatsu preparation -- tonkatsu curry.